Samsung's smartwatch sales dropped 28% year over year in the first quarter, according to Counterpoint Research. The July 22 Unpacked event in London is the company's best shot at reversing that slide.
Two watches are expected: the Galaxy Watch 9 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Samsung has already started teasing what it calls "the next evolution of Galaxy Watch," promising "all-new internal components" and enhanced battery life. The company is framing the 2026 lineup around AI-driven health insights, saying the watches are "evolving to help us better understand and proactively manage our health in real time."
Battery life is the most pressing issue. The Apple Watch Series 11, which debuted earlier this year, delivers nearly two days on a charge, the first meaningful battery improvement in generations.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 needs to match that. The Watch Ultra 2 is rumored to pack an 800 mAh battery, up from 590 mAh in the original, which would make it the largest battery of any Wear OS watch. The standard Galaxy Watch 9 is also expected to get a modest boost, with the 44mm model reportedly using a 445 mAh cell.
Both watches are reportedly switching to Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite SW6100 chip, replacing the Exynos W1000 found in last year's models. The Watch Ultra 2 may also feature a brighter display at 5,000 nits peak brightness, up from 3,000 nits on the first-gen model, along with more titanium in the casing and continued 100-meter water resistance.
Samsung is expected to skip a Classic model this year, keeping the lineup to two variants. The Galaxy Watch 9 will come in 40mm and 44mm sizes, with 2GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage.
European pricing leaks suggest the 40mm Bluetooth model starts at about $470, with the 44mm version around $502. The Watch Ultra 2 could land at roughly $860 in Europe, though US pricing may differ.
Health tracking is where Samsung is placing its biggest bet. The company has teased scuba diving support, and a blood pressure monitoring feature that arrived in the US last year could see improvements.
Samsung's AI health coaching, built on Google's platform, will be a central pitch, personalized fitness plans that adapt to the user. The watches will run One UI 9 Watch based on Wear OS 7 out of the box.
The stakes are clear. Samsung has long dominated the Android smartwatch space, but the 28% sales decline shows the gap narrowing.
Apple's battery gains and Google's deepening wearable push put pressure on Samsung to deliver hardware that justifies an upgrade. The Watch Ultra 2's larger battery, new processor, and brighter display are concrete answers to that pressure. The Galaxy Watch 9 needs to prove it offers more than iterative changes.
Samsung's Unpacked event streams on July 22 at 2 PM BST (9 AM ET). The company will also unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8, along with potential details on One UI 9 and Galaxy XR glasses. But for Samsung's wearable business, the smartwatches are the headline act.
